A semi-regular feature, in which we plead with mainstream news organizations to stop covering stories that, in our opinion, have gotten too much attention.

Dear news people: please stop with the Anna Nicole Smith stories. Now.

The initial ratings impact might have been significant, but you have to realize at this point the general audience’s interest in this story must be starting to drop. Now you are simply pandering to those sad cases who think that their constant consumption of celebrity “news” is equivalent to a relationship with the famous people whom they observe. And that’s just ugly. It’s not how you want to be perceived, is it? As being sad and desperate?

A famous woman has died and, as with many sudden departures from this mortal coil, there are a lot of complicated loose ends that her survivors will have to cope with.  But, you know what? You’re not helping. Worse, you are giving camera time and ink to the human remora that tried to squeeze fame and money out of the poor woman when she was alive. Now, after her death, you are giving them the attention that they certainly don’t deserve.

Why this fixation? Is it guilt? Are you doing this out of a sense of remorse over the fact that you gleefully reported every nauseating twist and turn of her downward spiral? Your coverage has the air of the perpetrators of a prank gone horribly wrong. It was all in good fun, right? We didn’t mean to kill her… right?

While you might have the same sort of responsibility of somebody buying drinks for a recovering alcoholic who later wrecks his car on the way home because you think that he’s a funny drunk, you are not directly responsible. Yours is the guilt of the enabler. But, this is reality, this is life on planet Earth: grown-ups here are solely responsible for the decisions that they make, and, ultimately, have to endure the consequences of their actions.

You are not totally absolved. But, here’s hoping that reduction of guilt on your metaphysical score-card is enough to get you to stop talking about this tragic event. For those of us not directly involved, it’s time to move on.

I’m looking at you, Larry King.